Germany’s Ritter Sport wins a chocolate battle against Milka

For decades, Ritter Sport has marketed its chocolate bars in their unique, square shape.

So when the Swiss brand Milka challenged its German monopoly on square chocolate, the battle lines were drawn.

Milka achieved an initial victory in 2016 by removing the patent, but that decision was reversed.

Finally, the case ended in the Federal Court of Justice, where the judges have dismissed Milka’s complaint and have ruled in favor of Ritter Sport.

First, the story

The square bar dates back to 1932, when Clara Ritter came up with the idea, according to company legend. “Let’s make a chocolate bar that fits in everyone’s jacket pocket without breaking and weighs the same as a normal long bar,” he is supposed to have said (albeit in German).

In 1970 he came up with the slogan “Quadratisch, praktisch, guts” – quality, chocolate, square, as the company likes to translate it.

The family business patented the shape in 1993, so when Milka began marketing a square bar in 2010, the case went to court.

Milka, now owned by Mondelez, won the first round in the federal patent court, but that decision was rejected and the patent court decided the following year that Ritter could maintain its three-dimensional monopoly.

Milka’s final challenge in the Federal Court of Justice has now also failed.

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What the judges said

Normally, a trademark cannot claim protection in Germany if its shape gives the product “essential value”. But the judges in this case said that Ritter Sport was different.

Consumers viewed the square nature of the chocolate bar as an indication of both the origin of the chocolate and its quality, they concluded.

They said there was no artistic value to the form and that it did not lead to differences in price.

His decision means that the prevailing bar may still be the only square chocolate bar from top brands on German store shelves.